Louvre in Atlanta

This was reported in the news a lot right before the Thanksgiving holiday, but in case you missed it: The Louvre is
coming to America! A spectacular collaboration between the legendary Paris museum and the
High Museum of Art in Atlanta will kick off with a high school student exchange in
January 2006. Following that, a collection of exhibits from Paris will open to the public at the High Museum in the
fall of 2006 for an unprecedented three year visit. There will be large collections like the Greco-Roman antiquities of
Napoleon’s wife and smaller ones, such as 18th-century sculpted portraits by Jean-Antoine Houdon. The city of Atlanta
must be stoked, and I do think this is great for folks who can’t get to Paris. However, I must say that the biggest
thrill for me when visiting the Louvre was when I sat by IM Pei’s famous pyramid for some serious people watching.
That’s a totally different kind of artistic viewing experience, but for some reason I remember it better than any of
the pieces I saw inside.